Various devices exist as analyzers for analyzing test samples.
For example, automatic analyzers are devices that dispense test samples such as human blood and urine as well as reagents inside reaction tubes, cause them to react at a constant temperature after they are mixed and stirred, and measure changes from the resulting reactions, in order to measure the concentration and/or activity of the measured substance or enzyme inside the test sample.
Colorimetric determination and turbidimetric determination are known as the measurement methods are used in this type of automatic analyzer.
Colorimetric determination refers to a method in which mixtures (reaction solutions in which test samples and reagents are mixed) inside reaction tubes are irradiated with light from a light source (wavelengths of light from the near-ultraviolet band to the near-infrared band) and light obtained through the mixtures is divided into spectra and detected by photodetectors, in order to detect changes (absorbance) in specific wavelength components absorbed by the reaction solution.
Moreover, turbidimetric determination generally irradiates mixtures, in which reagents containing latex particles are mixed and stirred with test samples, using light from the light source. Therefore, turbidimetric determination refers to a method in which light obtained through the mixture is divided into spectra and detected by photodetectors, in order to detect the turbidity (permeability) of the mixture, associated with the agglutination of latex particles.